Train hits smart car in Anaheim

Terrible news, but amazing how the smart held-up. Trucks and SUV's as well as any other auto always come into question when speaking about smart's safety prowess. But a train....wow. So glad they walked away unharmed. Amazing.

Plenty of room for more smart owners to chime in. The car did a great job protecting the occupants, but I have a feeling somebody tried to beat the train at the crossing and paid the price for it. It's a smart car, but not smart enough to outwit a stupid driver.

In an accident Tuesday morning involving the two, the little guy held his own, and that was good news for the woman driving the car.

Indeed, policy say, the car’s driver is lucky to have walked away from the crash.

The car sustained serious damage, but the woman was relatively unscathed.

The driver, who police described as a woman in her 50s, was able to climb out of the car before rescuers arrived, and was treated for minor injuries.

“She is completely lucky to be alive,” said Lt. Tim Schmidt, Anaheim’s public safety spokesman.

The occupant of a less than one-ton Smart car may not be expected to fare well when colliding with a much, much larger and heavier train, but investigators believe the size of the vehicle allowed it to spin and “bounce” away from the train, rather than be dragged like a larger vehicle may have been.

The fact that the car is made of steel also helped save the woman, Schmidt said.